


Blemish

by AzureMarie



Category: Free!
Genre: Gen, Mentions of self-harm, Panic Attacks, Rei Ryuugazaki Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 07:33:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5083252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzureMarie/pseuds/AzureMarie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>6 Parts:<br/><b>i.</b>    Rei is stupid<br/><b>ii.</b>  Rei reacts to something moronically<br/><b>iii.</b> Rei is unintelligent<br/><b>iv.</b> Rei does something idiotic<br/><b>v.</b>  Rei is socially inept<br/><b>vi.</b> Thankfully some people are smart.<br/><br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	Blemish

**Author's Note:**

> _I'm just going to explain this now to make sure everything makes sense ≧~≦_  
>  When Rei is panicking (or his thoughts are in disorder) he tries to organize some of his thoughts as if writing notes. I use | absolute value | at some point, but it doesn't get any more complicated than that.  
>   
> It's also worth mentioning that Rei is slightly (extremely) pessimistic about his friendship with Rin.  
> This story is slightly **AU** because I think Sousuke is at Samezuka a bit earlier than he should be, and all of this happens a long time before the events of S2 Episode 3 (and the RinRei drama CD swimming lesson), where Sousuke hasn't even met Rei yet...

**i.**  

Rei sprinted across the shore, running away.

Running away from swimming, from imperfection, and a stupid boy who thought a member of the track team should join the swim team for the sole reason of him having a feminine name.

As if he wasn't teased enough as a child for having it.

He had hastily run to the restroom to change into the running gear he brought with him (because running in his pyjamas would simply be unethical) and bolted away from the camping area. There wasn't anything wrong with running. He wasn't overreacting. He wasn't being dramatic. He wasn't being selfish, rude and a horrible new teammate because that wasn't beautiful and he was -

 

 

That thought was interrupted by Rei subsequently tripping over the sand. He slammed into the mixture of tiny minerals and rocks, only having time to switch from his distracted state to holding one arm in front of his glasses. Some part of him wondered if protecting his glasses over himself was logical, and he decided yes, it was.

As Rei pushed himself up, he held back a groan and ignored any pain he felt. Logically, he knew that he couldn't sustain any permanent or threatening injures simply from falling onto sand (as long as there wasn't any glass or large rocks). _Mentally,_ he couldn't care less.

Rei brought his knees to his chest, dragging his feet through the sand, and chuckled quietly at himself.

"What am I doing?" he asked nobody in particular, while laughing (possibly hysterically). The sound travelled through the landscape, the empty sound momentarily filling the air.

Rei reached down and grabbed a handful of sand; He clenched his fist, trying to compress the substance. Yet, sand isn't compressible; all those small rocks form a durable structure that was currently stronger than his grip.

"I shouldn't be here," he told himself as he turned his hand, letting the chips of salt and stone fall back to its original location.

 _'I should be on the track team, where I belonged,'_ he wanted to say next.

But then Rei paused- as a student who prided himself for knowing things, Rei had nearly successfully forgotten that he didn't belong there either.

_"Look, Ryugazaki-san, I'm not saying you're bad- your form is perfect! Probably the best in the club, even. But... look," he sighed, "I'm just gonna give it to you straight; You just don't have the natural talent for this stuff. There's not really any way for you to improve. I'm not gonna take you off the team, of course, but I think it'd take a huge strain off of you if you found something easier for you."_

Rei told him he understood, that he would consider his words, and that he appreciated him being honest.

He didn't tell him how perplexed he was. How he felt like logic and arithmetic were letting him down, when it was the only thing he had.

And so, he agreed to Nagisa's offer of a trial swim practice, which had ultimately ended in failure and embarrassment. He realized it must have been because at that point in time he had only read a few basic books about swimming, only because he was _not_ expecting to swim.

Rei bit his lip recalling that _before_ he actually swam, he actually had a slimmer of hope that he could do it-

but of course that isn't how it works.

 

At least not for him.

He needs to study, acquire knowledge, comprehend the theory, and _understand_ something before he does it. He can't think of anything that's come naturally to him. Even his meagre skills in deduction and analyzing come from practice, studies and theories.

There shouldn't be any problem with thinking through anything, yet it caused his failure both in track and swimming.

 

_'Don't think. Be free.'_

 

What does that even mean? How can one  _not_ think something through, just act by instinct- how can you do something without being confident that you can do it?

No... it's not being _confident_ per say, because he could certainly improve in areas of self-confidence, but it's logically knowing that you have the ability to do something.

Yet even then, one still has to _think._ How can you swim without- at the _very least-_ planning your movement and timing? And then - thinking about how curve your arm, how strong the kick should be, how far to bend your legs, what angles to turn your body at-

He understood that Haruka did none of that, but he couldn’t compare himself to Haruka, or any of the members to the swim team. He _had_ to do it, not by choice, but by way of life.

Rei gazed out at the calm illuminated ocean. The moon shone brightly in the sky, reflecting the sun's rays onto the water.

 _'I can't change my way of thinking. It theoretically isn't possible; I'd just be in denial. I just... have to try harder,'_ he decided.

_'I won't be a burden to people expecting something from me.'_

He pushed himself off the ground, pain from the impact of his fall mostly gone.

Rei quickly started to jog back to the tents, not to rest, but to prove to himself that he wasn't hopeless.

_______

 

He's ashamed for not researching the weather patterns.

 

 

 

 

 

 **ii.**  

"Rei-chaa _aa_ n, you're bleeding," Nagisa realized, sounding concerned.

"Huh?" Rei glanced down at his arm where he felt something akin to water droplets. There was cut- 8 centimeters long, estimated about 0.6 centimeters deep- diagonally crossing his right arm, and bleeding profoundly.

Makoto climbed out of the pool, seeing the red liquid. He sounded slightly panicked when he asked, "What happened Rei? Are you okay?"

"Ye-yes, I'm okay," Rei muttered.

"Does it hurt?" Nagisa asked, looking closer.

Rei shook his head. He hadn't even noticed it until Nagisa pointed it out. Logically, it was a deep cut near many veins, so it should hurt more. Maybe he was in shock?

Quickly he analyzed that he wasn't experiencing enough symptoms to be in shock. In that case, he was just lucky. Not to mention he’s always had a decently high pain tolerance.

"You're dripping blood onto the pool deck," Haruka complained, climbing out of the pool.

"Ah- sorry!" Rei said, snapping out of his daze.

(Rei decided to process what Haruka said _later,_ because whether or not he actually cared about the pool deck or thought Rei should stop the bleeding, the same action had to be taken.)

Quickly he ran to the changing room (while the others just watched - Note: also analyze that later) and grabbed his tie with his left arm and still only using one hand, he quickly formed it into a familiar lasso knot. Then he slipped his arm through it and tightened knot about 4 centimeters behind the cut. To ensure it didn't loosen, he tightened the base of the knot.

Once he had completed the first step (slow down the blood flow with pressure), he ran to the sink to clean up the cut. He watched solemnly as the blood diffused with the water. Once most the blood washed away, he lifted his wounded arm above the sink to rinse the first round of blood off the sink- he didn't want to stain the white porcelain- and then finished the job.

"Rei, are you alright?" Kou shouted into the changing room.

"Could you please grab the first aid kit for me?" Rei shouted. (Out of everyone on the swim team, himself not included, he assumed Kou was the only one who knew where it was.)

"Yeah, one sec!" she responded quickly. A few seconds later, she ran into the room, red and white medical kit in hand.

"Uh, what do you need?" she asked as she searched through the bin.

"If we have sterilized medical gauze, then that and since I'm not sure what I cut myself on, an alcohol swab, please."

Kou nodded. She first found the swabs and passed it to him. He quickly rinsed the cut once again, and then cleaned it out.

"This is it, right?" she asked, holding up a white cloth.

"Yes, thank you," he replied, and then grabbed the roll of cloth for himself. He wanted to wrap it around the wound, but despite being fully ambidextrous, he wouldn't be able to wrap it properly while keeping his armed raised in front of him and above his heart (he read it helped slow down the blood flow).

"Sorry to ask," he started politely, "but could you wrap this for me?"

"Of course," Kou smiled, and grabbed the gauze from him, but not before taking a look at the cut herself. "That's pretty deep, isn't it?" she asked while grabbing some paper towels to wipe away the newly appearing blood.

"Somewhat. It's not sever enough to need stitching, but it will..." he stopped that train of thought.

"Leave a scar," she finished for him. Then she quietly added, "right over all your extensor carpi radialis muscles too..."

Silently she wrapped the gauze around the long cut.

Changing the topic, she noted, "you seem to know your stuff about doctor.. umm, doctor-ism."

Rei shook his head slightly while laughing softly. "Hardly. I've just memorized the basics concepts in case I would need it."

Kou finished wrapping up his arm, and gave the make-shift treatment a small tap.

"Is that going to be all right?"

"It should fully close up within a week. I'm not entirely sure if I can be in a pool due to the chemicals, but I'll do my research by tonight."

Kou gave a nod, and the two walked out of the small building.

"Are you alright Rei-chan?" Nagisa immediately asked, seeming to be worried.

Rei mentally shifted gears and settings, and then grinned. "Of course I am," he stated boldly, pushing up his glasses with his left arm. "As if a small wound could stop Iwatobi's best butterfly swimmer!"

"But you're our _only_ butterfly swimmer!" Nagisa complained as Haruka stepped towards him.

"Can you swim?" he asked bluntly.

"I'm not certain, but I'd like to check tonight," he explained, facade slowly fading back away. "But if it's not okay I can-"

"It's okay Rei," he replied, before jumping back into the pool himself.

"Maybe you should go home now," Makoto suggested. "Not that we don't mind you only watching, of course," he added suddenly, "but I'd rather you go take care of yourself."

Rei wanted to protest, but he admitted there was not much he could do currently at the practice, and he didn't want to a nuisance.

"Alright then, thank you." He bowed slightly before walking back into the changing room.

He tried to convince himself that the cut would not scar.

______________________ 

He could swim, he found out later that night.

It would sting (not all that important), but it could also agitate the wound, or get it infected (much more important). Agitation, alongside infection, could greatly increase the visibility of the scar. So could direct sunlight.

He messaged Makoto and hoped his captain wouldn't figure out that not swimming was just his choice.

 

______________________

 

After three weeks of not swimming, always wearing long sleeves, and even skipping his morning runs (he'd make up for it after), he finally took a proper look in a mirror.

He had inspected the cut everyday to make sure it was healing properly, but so far he had successfully avoided thinking about it as a permanent addition to his body.

Logically, he knew it took over a year for a scar to fully form. But three weeks would at least provide some sort of preview of what he'd be stuck with. 

And...

 

it was not beautiful.

 

"Ugly," is the word that he muttered under his breath, but in this scenario the exact meaning of a word didn't matter.

He knew the pink-ish colour would fade into white eventually. He knew that the there was a chance (if he had a healthy body; which he did) that the scar might almost fully fade away.

Yet his mind did not care. In one of those few moments where he ignored the facts, and focused on his thoughts, his mind began to panic.

His body had an imperfection. A mistake. A defect. Flaw. Blemish.

The logical part of him protested his train of thought, because the words he had listed were not perfect synonyms. Yet the reasonable part of him was satisfied with finding the word he was looking for.

 

ble _mish; **noun**_

plural: blemish _es_

 **1 :** a mark that makes something imperfect or less beautiful **:** an unwanted mark on the surface of something

 **2 :** a fact or event that causes people to respect someone or something less

 

 

The blemish would remain on his arm forever.

 

He could-

 

he could no longer be beautiful.

 

He is not beautiful.

 

[Explore: Was Rei Ryugazaki ever?]

 

He himself was a blemish, first being an unwanted disgrace on the track team, and now ruining the perfect beauty of the swim team. No matter how hard he studied, trained, practiced, (also desired; but that was selfish and not logical) he could not match the laudable harmony between the four childhood friends, in swimming nor relationships.

It was not without a lack of effort. He tried. He’s read all the books, on both swimming and companionship. He’s taken over 100 pages of detailed notes on both topics. He analyzed his teammates and his own actions, tried to compensate and evolve so they could be pleased.

He’s not Rin. He’s not something that could replace Rin, nor match the antecedent.

 

A scar never fully replaces the skin.

 

He wanted to say it wasn’t fair. He wanted to blame it on some element or another. Yet it was obvious to him what the common factor was in all of his failures.

Himself. For a reason no logic or books could explain, no matter what he attempted to do, it was never beautiful.

 

** Failures **

**Track**                     -               He hit an unexplainable plateau. 

 **Swimming**            -               He could barely swim one stroke.

 **Philosophy** -               Clear when his understanding of the theories supporting everything have never helped him. The problem logically has to be himself.

 **Empathy** \-               All the times Nagisa's called him a computer or a robot were proof that he's managed to come no where.

 

All he wanted was-

 

what-

 

' _Do I even what anymore-'_

 

_'I thought it was friends-'_

 

_'I am just-'_

 

_'I don't-'_

 

-

 

His cellphone rang out from his desk, breaking his spiralling train of thought.

Rei gasped for breath. He hadn’t realized he had begun hyperventilating, or was curled up in a fetal position, making himself as small as possible.

 

[Illogical; He could not become smaller]

 

Dazed, lightheaded, and flustered, Rei stared in the direction of the phone.

His mind slowly catching up, he realized he couldn’t see.

 

[Idiotic; This should be obvious, with vision as bad as his]

 

His mind was reeling. Some more stable part of his mind began assembling the list of required actions.

 

1) Find his glasses 

2) Speculate the origin of the melodramatic thoughts.

3) Take notes

4) File everything away

5) Go search for-

 

The phone stopped ringing.

 

 Rei's eyes widened even further.

 

| Impolite | = Selfish, Rude, Ill-mannered, Disgraceful, Egotistic, unworthy of beauty and friendship and peace and a sense of belonging-

 

' _I need to calm down...'_

 

Let x equal emotions.

Let y equal the state of calmness.

Let z equal distractions.

 

y = xz

 

' _Simple enough.'_ He had applied this formula many times.

 

Rei stood up, and closed his eyes. Ignoring all the streams of panic or frustration, he created a mental map of his room using his almost photographic memory. Recalling which direction he heard the noise come from, he then reversed the path the sound had travelled, factoring in what could affected or reflected the sound waves.

Combining all the theoretical possibilities, his mind pinpointed the area where his phone was most likely located in,

His eyes still closed, he took a 1.4 meter step with his left foot, and then swiped his right (scared) arm.

His phone was exactly where he predicted, but as his hand gripped the device, no feeling of pride accompanied the accomplishment.

Rei opened his eyes, and brought his phone directly in front of his face to see who called.

 

1 (800) - 1216 - 225

 

He frowned. Due to the international area code, there was an extremely high chance it was an advertisement of some sort. Yet he felt uneasy being unable to confirm it. He didn't like being disrespectful-

but of course he still _is,_ usually by accident. Or he's just trying to be honest, because it's a proven fact that humans do not appreciate being lied to. When he can't talk about something, he'll simply choose his words carefully enough to not to state any direct lies.

His honesty isn't always appreciated, but then again, not much of him is.

 

 _'Stop that,'_ some tired part of his mind realized.

With no currently presented way to distract his mind, his thoughts were starting to spiral again.

Rei let out a frustrated and tired sigh. Clearly he was not in the proper state of mind to evaluate his own mind.

All of that emotional anguish and panicking could not and would not change anything. There was no point to it.

Some part of his mind recalls that all of his teammates would disagree-

 

but he was not them.

He sat down on the edge of his bed- ignored the fact that he was wrinkling his sheets- and stared down at the _scar._

It wouldn't go away. He didn't have to be alright with it, or accept it. It would still be there.

So much for being Iwatobi's most beautiful butterfly swimmer.

Covering it with makeup of some sort - if waterproof covering cream even existed- wouldn't be the point, because he appreciated _natural_ beauty. He dislikes it when things are fake, and the last thing he wants-

                                                                                                                                                                                                                …wait.

 

It was like he slammed the breaks, if his thoughts were a car.

 

 _['That analogy doesn't make sense,'_ some part of his mind protested, but it was ignored. _]_

He rewound through his thoughts, trying to find the thought or word that made a connection somewhere that he hadn't explored.

And then he found it.

 

**_Butterfly._ **

 

 

 

 

 

 

**iii.**

The biggest problem was that he didn’t know what actually cut him.

 

But no matter, because just like in basic algebra, he could work backwards.

He studied the scar; how it formed, the colour and texture.

He racked his brain for information of the actual cut; how long it bleed for combined with what it actually nicked internally, the width and length, what angle his skin was sliced at- anything he could remember and interpret, he included.

He spent hours combing through the internet (he had no books about the topic and it was far too late to go to library), identifying every variable.

He never found out what cut him, but he could perfectly reimagine how he was cut with every single variable repeated.

That was all he needed. 

 

 

 

**iv.**

It didn't hurt.

 

 

 

 

 

**v.**

Rei stepped onto the pool's surface and took a deep breath. It was winter now, so his avoidance of swimming for another 3 weeks wasn't commented on. He had also decided, that with better precautions, there would be no harm in running again, so at night he ran double the length of his normal route in order to make up for his previous avoidance.

His only opportunity to practice swimming was at Samezuka's pool. He had politely declined coming to the most recent joint practice, but the team _(surprisingly)_ got somewhat annoyed (he didn't blame them- he was being quite rude) and forced him to  at least work on his butterfly _after_ practice.

He had agreed.

They only mentioned later that he wouldn't be swimming alone.

They didn't tell him until he showed up at the pool that _they wouldn't be coming_ , and instead Rin would be helping him.

 It apparently slipped their mind...

He didn't _hate_ Rin, or even hold much against him, but to say their relationship is somewhat awkward would be a large understatement.

Ever since the tournament, Haruka, Makoto, and Nagisa would always hand out with Rin, or him, but never both at once. Rei didn't know if Rin requested this, as he certainly never complained (it would be selfish of him to deny his teammates time with their friend), but he decided not to ask. Either way, there was a lot of awkward tension between the two of them, and neither of them seemed eager to try and solve it.

At the end of practice, while Nagisa pushed Rei towards Rin, Makoto kindly asked Rin to coach him for a hour. Rin's eyes quickly glanced at Haruka still swimming free, and hesitantly agreed.

Rei was worried that the practice would be completely silent, or they could end up in an argument. He wasn't even sure what would happen if they started talking about the tournament, or their previous confrontations and confessions.

Luckily, Rin seemed to be an expert on denial, and for the first time, acted happy while treating him just as he would any other swimming team mate. Their previous interactions were completely ignored or shunned, and... it was all going okay, he supposed. He swam a couple laps, Rin told him to try different things that might improve his speed (because Rin noticed he wasn't doing anything _wrong,_ he just **was** slower), and then he swam some more.

That was until Rin stared at his physique and noticed something that no one else did.

"Dude, how the heck did you get two identical cuts on your arms?"

Rei did his best to suppress his surprise; he didn't widen his eyes, didn't gasp, and didn't start coughing to cover any shock.

"Oh," he said solemnly, glancing at his arms as if he never realized it before. "I suppose that's strange."

"You _'suppose it's strange?'_ " Rin asked skeptically, adding air quotes. "That doesn't seem very Rei- _chan_ like to me," he smirked.

"Well- I- who gave you permission to call me REI-CHAN!?"

Rin grinned with the weapon known as his teeth. "Nagisa- _san_ did," he said, obviously baiting him.

Rei reached up to push his glasses up, before realizing they weren't there. But he recovered himself by sliding his hand higher and brushing some of his hair to the side.

Once a shark decides to hunt, it would hightail its prey, ignoring all previous business. Or in this convenient case, conversations.

"Maybe I'll call you Rin-bouzu-san... without the -san, then," Rei stated boldly, mimicking a confident posture.

The Samezuka swimmer paused before chuckling. "As if. You apparently still don't say _Nagisa's_ name casually."

"I'm respectful!" he protested.

"Sure, but there's a limit," Rin replied.

Rei wondered what to say next. He knew why he didn't address his teammates casually- even with permission-  but he wasn't going to bring them up while his current goal was to distract Rin.

Best plan of action might be to get the conversation away from himself.

"What about Nitori-san? He's no different," Rei noted.

Rin paused, before rolling his eyes. "He's different. I've got him to drop the _-san_ , occasionally."

Rei's mind was scurrying to find a way to make sure the topic remained away from him. Two common methods of changing the topic involved flattery or pausing the conversation to do something else. He couldn't do the latter, because incase there were any lingering thoughts about Rei, Rin might remember what he saw.

Deflecting was his _preferred_ method of changing the topic, but his mind was unable to calculate a discreet way to do so with the current flow of the conversation.

 

_"How did you get two identical cuts on your arms?"_

 

_"I don't know, how did you end up with shark teeth?"_

 

Rei almost reacted with a frown when he realized he could have diverted it from the start.

_'Focus on the present; you can chastise yourself later.'_

His mind kept calculating- somewhat paying attention to the fact that soon he would have been quiet for almost 2 seconds, which wouldn't be enough time for anyone on his swim team to notice anything, but he doesn't know Rin as well, and his thinking speed might be up to par with his.

(Unlikely, but he must factor the possibility in)

He barely knows Rin at all, Rei realizes, but he's easier to read and understand than say, the hydromaniac.

In midst of his panicking-

' _no, not panicking- calculating'_

\-- he didn't drop his observational skills and out of the corner of his eye, noticed the door to the pool opening.

 

He glanced at the door. Rin's eyes followed his.

"Hey," said some student he didn't recognize. Rin's eyes seemed to light up at seeing him, so Rei assume they were close friends.

_'But I never saw him last year. Maybe they are old friends that recently reconciled? Or it's possible he's just some new classmate.'_

The friend was in Samezuka's standard black athletic clothes, zipper open showing a black t-shirt underneath. His hands were in his pockets, and matching his posture to his face made Rei assume the possibility of him being a strong, serious, but casual person.

"Hey Sousuke!" Rin grinned, waving from the water. Rei instinctively took a step back, not usually being one for social conversation.

Rin calling Sousuke casually confirmed that they were in fact friends.

"Who's this?" the friend asked. His expression became lighter, but Rei felt like he was being scrutinized and observed by him.

He opened his mouth to introduce himself but Rin didn't let him.

"This is Rei," Rin states with a grin, almost _proudly?_

Sousuke didn't react for a couple seconds, before a spark of recognition seems to appear.

"Oh," he says, demeaning expression completely disappearing, and turning into one Rei couldn't decipher.

"So he's the one who-"

Rei was watching Sousuke at that moment, but later he assumes that Rin must have set some sort of signal for Sousuke to stop talking, which frustrated Rei, because he _really_ wanted to hear how that sentence ended.

 

"- _couldn't swim?"_

 

_"-swims butterfly?"_

 

_"-unnaturally sinks like a rock?"_

 

 _"-replaced Rin on the team?"_  

 

If there is some information about him being spread around Samezuka, or maybe just between Rin's friends, he'd rather know what it was.

Sousuke took another glance at him, and then his expression returned to where it originally started, yet not as menacing.

"Yamazaki Sousuke," he stated.

He took a second to match everything he observed to the name.

"Ryugazaki Rei," he said, bowing in the pool.

  _('Why haven't we left the pool yet?')_

"I need to talk to Rin, if that's okay," Sousuke stated calmly.

"Yes, of course!" Rei politely replied.

Rin glanced at him, and Rei received yet another look he wasn't able to decipher.

"Well it's been far over an hour-" _'really?'_ "- so I'd say your lesson is over. You might as well start heading home."

Rei nodded, and made his way over to the side of the pool, and preceded by pulling himself out of the pool.

Slipping off his goggles with one hand and grabbing his towel with the other, he walked towards the changing rooms.

He made sure not to squint as he had the path to the room mapped out and memorized. Then he stopped, and faced the direction where the two students should be.

"Umm," he started quietly, but then continued simply out of politeness. "Have a good day Yamazaki-san, Rin-san!" 

Not really able to observe their reactions, he continued making his way to his borrowed locker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**vi.**

"So, what do you think?" Rin grinned. 

Sousuke gave Rin a look. "Nothing different that from what I thought about him five minutes ago," he replied sternly.

Rin pouted. "You know what I meant."

Sousuke glanced over Rin once again, and then came to a conclusion.

"He certainly brings out your childish side."

Rin opened his mouth, baring his sharp teeth, ready to protest, but he snapped it shut when he realized retorting carelessly would prove his point.

"Well, whatever," Rin decided and then proceeded to pout, making Sousuke smirk in victory.

His smile faded away as he gazed returned to the door of the locker room.

"You weren't kidding about the butterfly analogies with that guy," he commented.

"Huh? Oh yeah. Well, I guess he's as much as a butterfly as Haru is a dolphin," Rin joked.

"That's not it," he noticed.

When Rin didn't respond, only giving him a confused look, he decided to continue.

"You noticed the two cuts on his arms, right?" he asked, turning to fully face his friend.

"Well yeah, of course, but what does that ha-"

"They're practically symmetrical?" he offered.

"Okay but-"

"Doesn't that remind you of something?"

"No? Where are yo-"

"A butterfly," he finished.

Rin looked confused. And irritated. Also completely lost. 

Sousuke sighed. "Nevermind then. If you're not smart enough to understand, then I'm not going to tell you."

Rin frowned, and then _attempted_ to glare at him. "You can't just leave me hanging! What were you going to say!?"

Sousuke mentally debated with himself for less than a second before he succumbed to friendship.

"A butterfly's wings, they're perfectly symmetrical." 

Rin stared at him for a good 10 seconds, still trying to understand what he was talking about. 

Sousuke was about to give up when Rin's expression noticeably changed. 

"Oh."

He didn't reply. 

"Does that mean..."

He shrugged. "I just met the guy, how should I know anything?"

Rin attempted a new combination of pouting, glaring, and frowning at the same time, while obviously becoming frustrated. 

Without announcing anything, he marched over to the changing rooms, apparently not currently giving a damn about privacy, and ran in.

When Sousuke didn't hear any yelling or shouting, he decided to follow to Rin inside.  
  
"Guess he was expecting you," Sousuke commented, gazing at the empty room.  
  
Rin seemed even more irritated.  "Their team sucks at running, I can catch up to him."  
  
Sousuke frowned. "I don't think that's a good idea."  
  
Rin attempted to give him another cold glare. "Why not?" he barked out.

In all fairness, it was Rin that told him that Rei's "spirit animal" was a butterfly or something like that.

  
"You know what happens when you catch a butterfly by it's wings?"

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that was okay...
> 
> The point of the first part was to state that Rei was already in a poor state of mind, so the rest of the story wasn't just Rei overreacting.
> 
> Everything probably felt really rushed because as an author I am awful at expanding and explaining stuff, alas, I hope I maybe created _some_ feels? ^-^'
> 
> Feel free to leave critical reviews, if you have advice or comments, I'd like to hear it!


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